Business & Tech
Forbes Ranks Mercer Island Schools No. 2 (again) in the Nation
The online version of the business magazine Forbes ranked Mercer Island on its annual "Best Schools for Your Real Estate Buck" ranking.
Mercer Island residents have yet another affirmation to crow about after Forbes Magazine ranked local schools 2nd in the U.S. in its annual "Best Schools For Your Real Estate Buck" ranking, out of 17,589 towns and cities reviewed.
The ranking, compiled by San Francisco, Calif.-based nonprofit GreatSchools, Inc., used five economic and educational achievement factors to find "the best places in America where your housing dollar will go the furthest in getting your children a great education." The nonprofit worked in partnership with Forbes to produce the ranking and story.
Forbes ranked Falmouth, Maine, as the best bargain—with high test scores and median home prices around $351,550. Mercer Island, with a high median home value of $708,740 relative to other top-ranked towns, was given extra-credit for high achievement on state standardized test scores such as the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE). That high proficiency likely led to very high SAT scores 635 Math, 613 Verbal in 2009—and a 95 percent graduation rate from . The next-highest ranked town in the state was Sammamish, ranked 17th nationally.
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"We're the most trusted source of (education) performance data in country," said GreatSchools spokesperson Kristan Kirsh. "Based on that we provide tips and advice to parents on schools."
According to the Forbes story:
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"The resulting lists once again demolish the idea that more money equals better schools. Falmouth's performance outshone that of big-dollar school districts like Manhattan Beach, Calif., and New Canaan, Conn., both of which have median house prices above $1.1 million yet scored sixth and 19th, respectively, on an absolute scale."
Forbes and GreatSchools used five sources of data to determine their ranking:
- Individual school performance data: Departments of education for each state, as of February 2011.
- National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) data: National Center for Education Statistics, 2009.
- Population data: Bert Sperling’s Best Places, 2009.
- Median home value data: Bert Sperling’s Best Places, Q3 2010.
- Unemployment data: Bert Sperling’s Best Places, November 2010
Last year, Forbes interviewed Mercer Island Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano when the district earned a double-recognition in its April 2010 edition and was also ranked second. This year, Plano said the attention reinforced his focus on the district's top priorities.
"I don't routinely follow national stories when publications rank our school district," Plano said. "We like to be aware of these rankings or recognition to the extent that such prominence may generate more families to move to Mercer Island, thus causing us to look more closely at student demographic trends and school capacities."
The is examining the school capacity question closely—especially the district's elementary schools which are over 120 percent of design capacity—and has formed a citizen's panel (The 21st Century Facilities Planning Committee) to come up with recommendations by early next year. A bond measure for building new schools, if passed, could significantly raise local property taxes.
Here's a list of the top-10 ranking by the nation's four geographic regions:
Rank City # Schools Pop. Median Home Value Housing Appreciation Unemployment Educational Quality Index 1 Falmouth, ME 5 10,669 $351,550 5.0% 100.00 2 Barrington, RI 6 16,284 $296,010 -20.4% 9.7% 97.96 3 Bedford, NH 6 21,504 $293,730 5.5% 97.96 4 Basking Ridge, NJ 5 24,600 $370,100 3.2% 94.17 5 Jericho, NY 5 12,812 $644,890 -11.8% 7.0% 94.17 6 New Canaan, CT 5 19,952 $1,195,820 6.2% 91.57 7 Belmont, MA 6 23,217 $551,920 -4.7% 5.8% 90.90 8 Winchester, MA 7 21,117 $601,920 -5.1% 6.0% 90.36 9 Madison, CT 6 18,844 $450,350 5.6% 90.06 10 Concord, MA 5 16,846 $611,320 6.2% 89.56 Midwest Rank City # Schools Pop. Median Home Value Housing Appreciation Unemployment Educational Quality Index 1 Pella, IA 5 10,475 $148,200 -3.0% 5.3% 98.25 2 Brookfield, WI 10 38,922 $241,260 -4.3% 6.2% 94.10 3 Edina, MN 16 45,744 $317,690 -11.1% 6.1% 93.59 4 Hinsdale, IL 6 16,723 $651,220 -19.8% 8.7% 92.25 5 Mequon, WI 6 22,668 $316,010 1.1% 6.7% 90.22 6 Carmel, IN 16 48,738 $246,910 -2.6% 6.3% 89.42 7 Cedarburg, WI 6 10,993 $240,770 -2.7% 6.7% 88.22 8 Wilmette, IL 7 27,139 $558,660 -10.1% 6.4% 87.52 9 Waunakee, WI 6 11,172 $289,380 -0.8% 5.2% 87.00 10 Ada, MI 7 12,298 $237,800 11.3% 86.91 South Rank City # Schools Pop. Median Home Value Housing Appreciation Unemployment Educational Quality Index 1 Parkland, FL 5 25,106 $426,390 -20.5% 9.7% 95.98 2 St. Johns, FL 9 18,063 $181,700 10.3% 95.98 3 Southlake, TX 12 26,297 $476,880 -2.5% 8.2% 95.74 4 Severna Park, MD 7 28,841 $417,090 -5.3% 6.7% 93.22 5 Brentwood, TN 13 29,105 $379,370 -7.5% 7.4% 90.29 6 Potomac, MD 7 44,924 $749,630 -5.7% 5.4% 89.60 7 Niceville, FL 6 12,602 $190,770 -6.1% 7.4% 89.00 8 Mount Pleasant, SC 12 64,087 $296,410 -1.0% 6.4% 87.12 9 Collierville, TN 8 39,040 $266,610 -12.4% 7.2% 86.09 10 Mandeville, LA 15 11,954 $243,540 -1.7% 5.0% 85.95 West Rank City # Schools Pop. Median Home Value Housing Appreciation Unemployment Educational Quality Index 1 Mercer Island, WA 5 24,351 $708,740 -23.2% 8.7% 99.12 2 Moraga, CA 5 16,465 $722,010 -9.8% 11.5% 97.69 3 Manhattan Beach, CA 7 37,745 $1,278,980 -11.7% 4.5% 97.69 4 Lake Oswego, OR 13 36,973 $392,040 -16.7% 7.7% 93.74 5 Sammamish, WA 13 41,916 $519,060 -16.7% 7.0% 92.78 6 Lafayette, CA 6 25,035 $811,210 -17.2% 4.2% 89.58 7 Palo Alto, CA 16 59,974 $1,080,980 -4.5% 6.5% 89.23 8 Piedmont, CA 6 10,596 $730,620 -7.1% 11.5% 87.96 9 Los Alamos, NM 5 12,254 $242,150 0.5% 3.1% 87.85 10 Greenwood Village, CO 7 13,762 $552,020 -1.2% 6.6% 87.55Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.